Although the opening ceremonies aren’t until tomorrow, men’s Olympic football kicked off today, with 16 teams in the tournament, including Spain. (The Spanish women’s team didn’t make it to the Olympics, but I am proud to be supporting the Canadian women’s team.) If you have never paid much attention to Olympic football before, you may be surprised to learn that players must be 23 or younger, with three exceptions per team, which allows for a more even playing field – and lots of fresh faces.

In a surprise upset, Spain lost their first match 0-1 to Japan, so let’s wish the boys lots of luck against Honduras and Morocco.

At 28, El Niño Torres isn’t such a kid anymore. But those puppy-dog eyes! Those rosy cheeks! Those FRECKLES! Although he has (let’s face it) sucked for a while now, I have to believe in him (since David Villa is still recovering from a broken leg). And miraculously, Nando scored two goals today! Mind you, it was against Ireland. Spain won 4-0, the other goals being from Silva and Cesc.

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]]>https://laligaforladies.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/hot-euro-player-of-the-day-fernando-torres-spain/feed/0jeccamfernando torresWelcome back!https://laligaforladies.wordpress.com/2011/08/20/welcome-back/
https://laligaforladies.wordpress.com/2011/08/20/welcome-back/#respondSat, 20 Aug 2011 23:09:15 +0000http://laligaforladies.wordpress.com/?p=677Welcome back to La Liga! The 2011-2012 season was supposed to kick off today, but the players are on strike. Fingers crossed everything will be back on track by next weekend.

Since I lied when I said I’d keep you all updated over the summer, let’s see what we missed.

International

UEFA U-21 Champions! Photo: Getty via Daylife.

A great many congratulations to Spain, who are 2011 European Champions three times over! Spain won the UEFA Under-21, Under-19, and Women’s Under-17 Championships.

In the exciting U-19 final, our boys beat out Czech Republic in extra time. Valencia B’s Paco Alcacer was the hero of the match, scoring two goals in added time. Real Madrid Castilla’s adorable Álvaro Morata won the golden boot, contributing six goals in the tournament. It appears Spain’s national team will remain successful (and good-looking) for years to come.

Finally, the young ladies of the U-17 defeated France in the final, with Alba Pomares scoring the only goal of the match. Let’s hope this means better things to come for the Spain NWT, who failed to qualify for the 2011 Women’s World Cup.

Copa América

This picture is pretty adorable, but would it would be even better if Diego Forlán had taken off his shirt. Photo: Getty via Daylife

The Copa América doesn’t have much to do with La Liga or Spain, but I wanted to give a shout out to La Liga’s Diego Forlán, Diego Godín, Martín Cáceres, and Sebastián Eguren, who were on Uruguay’s winning squad. Also, congratulations to Paraguay’s Justo Villar, who was named best goalkeeper of the tournament. Villar plays for Real Valladolid in Liga Adelante.

International Friendlies

Reunited and it feels so good.... Photo via Iker Casillas' Facebook

Real Madrid were champions of the 2011 Herbalife World Football Challenge, squeaking by Manchester United in goal differentials. The friendly tournament was held in North America and featured MLS and Mexican Primera División teams as well as clubs from England, Spain and Italy. Barcelona didn’t do so well without Messi (who was recovering from Copa América), but they’ll be back to their fearsome selves in no time. Players from both Real Madrid Castilla and Barcelona B got plenty of chances to shine. Little Joselu scored a goal for Madrid, and Thiago impressed Pep Guardiola enough with his performance in the U-21 squad and in the preseason that he will be joining Barcelona’s first team this season.

While Barcelona continued touring North America, Real Madrid traveled to China. They beat two Chinese teams by six goals each, but their most interesting friendly was played against 109 children in Guangzhou. Adorable. Valencia stayed in Europe, where they had a successful preseason against the likes of AS Roma and Sporting de Lisboa.

Supercopa

Garbage. Photo: Getty via Daylife

Well, the first leg went well. With their fresh new look and strong midfield, Real Madrid dominated possession, but Barcelona struck with deadly efficiency. Mesut Özil and Xabi Alonso scored for Madrid, Messi and Villa for Barcelona.

The second leg at Camp Nou was more of the same. Goals for Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema, Iniesta and Messi. When Messi scored a second goal in the 88th minute, it looked like Barcelona would win the 2011 Supercopa with little incident. But of course we cannot have a clásico with little incident. With one minute of stoppage time left, Marcelo decided Cesc Fàbregas, who had been playing for Barça for all of ten minutes, needed to be hurt. Marcelo was given the red card he deserved and all hell broke loose. Özil and Villa were sent off for fighting with each other (although I strongly suspect Özil’s red should have gone to Higuaín), and Mourinho will likely be suspended for a few weeks. It should be the referees who are on strike, because they’re not paid enough for this. Personally, I would have sent the lot of them off and have Athletic Bilbao and Málaga (who are slated to play Real Madrid and Barcelona next, respectively) win their first fixtures of the season by default. I pray that I don’t have to see more than the minimum two Clásicos this season, and I’m afraid to think of what even those will bring. Anyway, rant over. Barcelona won fair and square, Cesc is no worse for wear, and there won’t be another Clásico until December.

And with that, I’ve had enough for the day. Transfer highlights and football-related gossip to follow.

Cristiano Ronaldo is pretty sure his short tent is bigger than an entire Messi. Photo: AP Photo via Daylife.

El Clásico

The first of four faceoffs (woo, alliteration!) in three weeks between archrivals Real Madrid and Barcelona went down on Saturday, and it looks like it’s going to be a tense series. Although Barça dominated possession, Madrid didn’t allow them to keep up their usual tiki-taka style and the first half ended with no score. Shortly after the break however, things took a dramatic turn when Madrid’s Raúl Albiol (very stupidly) fouled against David Villa inside the penalty area. Albiol was sent off, leaving Madrid a man down, and Barcelona was awarded a penalty kick. Lionel Messi’s shot went in, and things were not looking great for Los Blancos. A few minutes later though, Carles Puyol (who has spent the last three months recovering from a knee injury) had to be carried off the pitch with a strained hamstring. (It looks like Puyol will be fine to play in tomorrow’s Copa del Rey final, though.) Anyhoo, skip to the last ten minutes of the game. Real Madrid was awarded a penalty kick after Dani Alves brought Marcelo down inside the box. Cristiano Ronaldo very happily took the kick and scored, ending the match in a 1-1 draw and leaving a big question mark for the next three Clásicos. The results of this match don’t really matter since Barcelona is set to win the league cup, but it does set the tone for the upcoming Copa del Rey final and Champions League semifinals.

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]]>https://laligaforladies.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/match-results-el-clasico/feed/0jeccamCristiano Ronaldo and Lionel MessiLAST weekend’s resultshttps://laligaforladies.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/last-weekends-results/
https://laligaforladies.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/last-weekends-results/#respondMon, 21 Feb 2011 01:58:21 +0000http://laligaforladies.wordpress.com/?p=492So, I was going to post this a while ago, but it took longer than I thought.

It was one crazy jornada in La Liga last weekend, full of upsets, surprises, and matches that were exciting from beginning to end.

José Antonio Reyes opened the match with a goal against fourth-ranked Valencia, but Joaquín tied it shortly before the half, then scored the winning goal in the 86th minute. Atlético’s Diego Godín was sent off shortly after for a (probably accidental) elbow to Joaquín’s head. Valencia moves up to third place, while Atlético drops to 10th.

Sporting de Gijón 1 (Barral) – Barcelona 1 (Villa)

The underdogs opened the scoring again, with Sporting’s David Barral getting a goal in the 17th minute. Barcelona dominated possession and both sides had a few good chances on goal, but it wasn’t until the final minutes that David Villa managed to score the equalizer. The draw may be disappointing for Barça fans, but it’s great news for second-place Real Madrid, who need every opportunity to catch up to the leaders.

Newly reinstated Racing manager Marcelino looked adorable in a hooded duffel coat and showing his unabashed joy at seeing his team do so well. Racing hottie Christian Fernández scored the first goal (only to receive a straight red before the half). Ivan Rakitic back-kicked the ball into his own net five minutes later, putting the underdogs up to 2-0. Sevilla managed to stage a comeback just after Fernández was sent off, with hottie of the day Federico Fazio scoring a header. In the second half, Luis Fabiano tied the game with a penalty goal (to make up for Negredo’s missed one in the first half), only to be stymied by Manuel Arana earning the winning goal for Racing in stoppage time. Way to go, verdiblancos!

Sunday

Yes, that red card is directed at Iker Casillas. Photo: AS

Levante 1 (Caicedo) – Almería 0

Not too many surprises here for a change, as the teams are pretty evenly matched near the bottom of the league. Felipe Caicedo’s goal at the beginning of the second half was lovely, though.

Málaga 2 (Baptista penalty, Rondón) – Getafe 2 (Miku, Colunga)

Málaga keeper Arnau gave a dismal performance as Getafe scored two goals in the first half hour. Miraculously for Málaga, a penalty goal from Baptista and a last-second goal from Rondón managed to tie the match in the second half.

Real Sociedad 1 (Tamudo) – Osasuna 0

Pretty straightforward here. Home side Real Sociedad are the better team and deserved to win with Tamudo’s goal in the second half. With not a single away win this season, Osasuna manager José Antonio Camacho has been fired and replaced with José Luís Mendilibar.

Hércules 2 (Farinós, Trezeguet) – Zaragoza 1 (Braulio)

Zaragoza surprised the home side three minutes into the match with a header from Braulio. The rest of the first half was completely uneventful, but Hércules managed to come back at the end with a pair of goals from Francisco Farinós and David Trezeguet.

Deportivo 1 (Lopo) – Villarreal 0

Another shocker here, with 17th-place Deportivo La Coruña upsetting third-place Villarreal. Depor defender Alberto Lopo was the hero of the hour, scoring the only goal of the match. Villarreal slips to fourth place, and Deportivo climbs to 14th.

Espanyol 0 – Real Madrid 1 (Marcelo)

You might think from the score that this was another pretty standard match. You would be wrong. Less than two minutes in, saintly Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas was sent off for a challenge on José Callejón. I’m not going to pass judgment on the call (you can judge for yourself here), but I was astounded to see Iker getting a red. It’s rare for goalkeepers to be sent off at all, but Casillas is a particularly peaceful one, so it was especially surreal to see him trudging off the pitch. Still, he was classy enough to accept the decision and was sitting in the stands minutes later in a suit and tie.

With their star keeper replaced with third-choice Antonio Adán and down to ten men for essentially the entire match (not to mention the psychological effect of the shock), the visitors were suddenly facing a big challenge in front of a lively Espanyol crowd. Adán played wonderfully though despite the enormous pressure, and a goal from Marcelo in the 24th minute helped ease the tension for Madrid. Marcelo, Adebayor and Cristiano had several more chances on goal, but Espanyol keeper Idriss Kameni was phenomenal and blocked all further attempts by los blancos. Still, Madrid came away with their three points, and slowly creep up to rivals Barcelona.

Monday

Mallorca 1 (Webó) – Athletic Bilbao 0

One more upset to finish off the jornada. Webó scored only 10 minutes into the match, and Athletic were unable to respond.

Valencia 2 (Aduriz, Vicente) – Athletic Bilbao 1 (Gabilondo). Valencia took the lead early, with Aritz Aduriz putting one past his former team. Bilbao didn’t put much of a fight in the first half, but they did look fantastic in their away kits. Although they stepped up somewhat in the second half, Vicente scored a second one for Los Che at the end of the match. Seconds later, Gabilondo managed a consolation for Los Leones at the opposite end.

Zaragoza 2 (Sinama Pongolle 2) – Osasuna 2 (Obradovic OG, Diego Castro). The first goal was another own goal, this time by Zaragoza’s Ivan Obradovic. The home side was responsible for the next goal against them as well, when Jiri Jokosek earned a red card and a penalty shot. Diego Castro made the shot without any trouble, and Osasuna was up two. Florent Sinama Pongolle made up the deficit with a pair of goals shortly thereafter, but neither side could come up with a third to break the draw.

Atlético Madrid 1 (Simão) – Leverkusen 1 (Derdiyok). Another disappointing result for the defending champs. Forlán, what happened to you? Atlético are currently sitting at the bottom of Group B.

Villarreal 2 (Rossi, Gonzalo) – Club Brugge 1 (Donk). Villarreal’s Cani had a rough match, first getting elbowed by Ronald Vargas (who was promptly sent off), then being carried off on a stretcher after a vicious tackle from Jonathan Blondel (who only got a yellow card). He will be recovering for the next week or so.

Young Boys 2 (Degen 2) – Getafe 0. Between injuries and Míchel’s experimental lineup, it should perhaps be no surprise that Getafe failed to follow up their win against Odense. Adding to their injury list, Mario Álvarez ruptured his Achilles tendon in the match. This means he’ll be out for the rest of the season, pobrecito.

Borussia 0 – Sevilla 1 (Cigarini). Gregorio Manzano is off to a good start as Sevilla’s new manager. Luca Cigarini scored just before the break, and Borussia Dortmund couldn’t recover after Marcel Schmelzer was sent off in the second half.

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]]>https://laligaforladies.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/europa-league-catch-up/feed/0jeccamvillarreal bruggeChampions League catch-uphttps://laligaforladies.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/champions-and-europa-league-catch-up/
https://laligaforladies.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/champions-and-europa-league-catch-up/#commentsSat, 02 Oct 2010 02:30:39 +0000http://laligaforladies.wordpress.com/?p=368Sorry ladies, I was feeling a little under the weather so blogging activity was reduced. Here are the rest of the Champions League results for this week. I will post Europa League results tomorrow.

Photo: Getty Images via Daylife

Champions League (Wednesday)

Rubin Kazan 1 (Christian Noboa penalty) – Barcelona 1 (Villa penalty). Barcelona and Rubin were pretty evenly matched for this one. Dani Alves tackled Vitali Kaleshin 30 minutes into the match, and Noboa scored the resulting penalty goal. Thirty minutes later, the tables were turned when David Villa made his penalty shot after Lasha Salukvadze brought down Andrés Iniesta. Very symmetrical. Lionel Messi is back from injury, having replaced Mascherano on the pitch just after Barça’s goal. Barcelona slips to second place in Group D, behind Copenhagen.

Valencia 0 – Man. United 1 (Hernández). Although Valencia have been having a great season and Manchester United have been struggling, the English side managed to pull through with a solid defence and a late goal from Chicharito. Valencia’s own Hernández (Pablo) had the best chance for the home side a few minutes later, but didn’t manage to get the equalizer. Sorry, valencianistas. Better luck tomorrow when Los Che face Athletic Bilbao in La Liga.

Los blancos were having striker trouble again. Although they dominated the first half, shots by Cristiano Ronaldo, Lass Diarra and Benzema all missed the target. Higuaín didn’t do much of anything. Auxerre began to step up in the second half, but the couple of shots they made were weak. Cristiano saw a couple of his efforts on target, but they were stopped by home goalkeeper Olivier Sorin. Finally, Ángel Di Maria came on for Lass Diarra, and saved the day for Real Madrid shortly after, ten minutes before the final whistle.

Málaga 2 (Eliseu, Rondón) – Villarreal 3 (Cazorla 2, Rossi). A very lively match, at least for the first half hour. Eliseu scored for the home side right off the bat. But Villarreal took the lead twenty minutes later with back-to-back goals from Santi Cazorla and Giuseppe Rossi. José Rondón scored the equalizer for Málaga a few minutes later, only to see the Yellow Submarine regain the lead with another goal from Cazorla. And still the excitement of the first half wasn’t over yet. Shortly before half-time, Eliseu was tripped by Carlos Marchena. He got up, walked angrily up toward Marchena, and leaned in as if to say something, his nose touching the veteran’s cheek. In an epic performance, Marchena suddenly grabbed his face and fell to the ground. Eliseu was shown a red card, Marchena a yellow. This injustice seemed to affect Málaga’s morale, with their performance suffering in the second half.

Thankfully, the Competition Committee reduced Eliseu’s red card to a yellow today after reviewing the footage. He will be able to play in Málaga’s next match against Almería.